USA vs JAPAN

This week in my university English classes, we have been debating which is better, Japan or the USA. I asked students to prepare questions to ask me, and also to brainstorm 10-15 words that first come to mind when they think of the USA. From the 6 classes I had this week, I would have to say the most mentioned words were:
Hamburgers ... Melting Pot... Statue of Liberty... Guns... Freedom... Hollywood... George Bush... MBA,MLB,and NFL... Big Scale

One of the questions that was asked in every class was, "Which country is more comfortable to live in?" I have a hard time answering this question. For most people, I would say that America is an easier place to live because of our freedoms. In Japan, there are definite expectations about how you should act...at school, at the workplace, anywhere in public. Of course, Japan has their fair share of independently minded people who don't care about fitting the norm, but the expectations certainly exist. I, in many ways, as a foreigner, am lucky in the sense that I am not expected to fit this mold. I have lived here long enough and learned enough to understand in most situations how people are expected to act, so when it is beneficial to me, I follow suit, talk the talk and bow the bow. But, when I don't agree, or just plain don't want to do something, I have my Gaijin/foreigner trump card that allows me to do things my own way and get away with it. So, in a way, I am living an American-ish lifestyle here. My students, or my own husband, being Japanese with no good excuse no to be, have to do the synchronized dance no matter what. Granted, the USA has its own fair share of stereotypes and narrow minded thinking, but there is clearly more room for being different and stepping out of any pre-formed stereotypes.

For now, I am enjoying my life in Japan, especially days like this when I get to do a bit of crashing of the minds; confrontation that helps us all to grow!

Kickin' at the Kiln

Had a wonderful weekend, retreating twice to the hillside of Mt Kimpo. We actually live at the foot of Mt Kimpo, the biggest mountain in the city, the backside of which is home to some of the largest tangerine orchards in Japan. Our first retreat was with some of Lucy's kindergarten friends and their families to an orchard where you can pick and eat tangerines to your heart's content, then eat a barbecue overlooking the Ariake seacoast. It was sunny but refreshingly cool, and so relaxing to chat with friends while the kids played nearby. Our second retreat was last evening, when we visited our friend's pottery kiln just a tangerine toss from this orchard. He advised us to come before sunset and watch the sun set over the sea...and this picture here doesn't do justice to the beautiful bright pink and purple hues that filled up the skies not soon after we arrived. The rest of the evening, I vowed to hit the hills and forests more often. My senses were dancing with the sound of branches and leaves crunching beneath my feet as I walked around. Flashback to summer camp, Georgetown Lake, and hiking with my family. Breathing in the smoke of the kiln and seeing the roar of the flames when they opened the hatch to stoke also brought me back to evenings at camp or the fireplace in my childhood home. Our friend commutes from the heart of the city to his rustic studio and kiln on the hillside of this mountain nearly every day. I have another friend who commutes from a quiet village in Aso to the city just as often. Which is the better deal...if you could do only one or the other...to live or work in the countryside while commuting to or from the city?

Try a song!

I wanted to introduce one of my favorite songs by Lisa Loeb, Try from her album "The way it really is," but couldn't find it on Youtube to direct you, but did find a song of the same title from another of my favorite singing chicks, Nellie Fertado, which you can watch at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqcdTrCrguo

Still, I prefer Lisa Loeb's version, with my favorite line:

You'd find that the mountains aren't so high (....if you just take a better look...)

Ok, just flashed back to a fun story. Before I had a child and could make spontaneous plans at the twitch of my whim, I turned up the radio to hear a newly released song of Lisa's, disappointed when the d.j. cut it a bit short, but shocked when she said, "I am jealous of all of you who get to go and watch her tonight at the Z-side concert hall tonight in Fukuoka." Less that two hours later, after canceling a lesson by telling my student the wild truth of where I was going instead of her class, Eiji and I were on a highway bus to Fukuoka with our fingers crossed that the d.j. was right: that they did have a handful of tickets left. They did..she is so adorable and cool.

Foaming wine

A book I must reread:
Either/ Or
by Kierkegaard.

His writings were my bible during the 4 short months I spent studying in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Whenever I ponder the future, I always think of foaming wine full of endless possibilities.
Or, as my translated version of his work reads:

" My soul has lost its potentiality. If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for power and wealth, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever so ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so foaming, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as Possibility. "

What color is your bathroom?

Color coordinating. My brother and his family are building a new house, so I want to buy them something for Christmas to decorate their new home. When I told my husband that I need to call and find out what colors their rooms are, he was confused. Maybe its the fact that our house right now is a crazy mix of colors, patterns and clutter. Or, maybe Japanese don't decorate their homes with this color coding system. I will ask around. I remember going off to college and having to have all mauve bed sheets, covers, towels and toothbrush holders! I do like a bit more variety now.

Or when I was having a baby, my mother was so anxious to know how I was decorating my baby room. Baby room? Well, that ended up being a corner of our bedroom, done neutrally with teddy bear bedding and a few cute postcards on the wall.

Found these cute glass dishes at the flea market yesterday. Weird how the season attracted me to the golden orange.

New old treasures

Found these cute cups...10 of them actually...at the flea market yesterday too. They are too round to really drink out of, but fun with something little inside.
Can't wait to open up a shop someday!
It WILL happen!

Is this hot?

I am addicted now! I can now understand why my husband always has his camera with him. Its so fun! But, when I take 5 photos of the same thing on different settings, they all look SORTA good to me, but which is really best?

Or is this HOTTER?

Which is the better photo? Beats me!
It's a vending machine, by the way. Here in Japan, you can get hot drinks from the vending machine...hot canned coffee, hot chocolate, tea, hot lemon drink, corn soup, and a funky hot sweet bean drink!

Aloha Lizards!

Love and hugs to my parents who are a few time zones closer to us now in there new home in Kona, Hawaii! I hope a future job will take me somewhere warm with a seaside view for six months someday. While I am needing to bundle up in a blanket these past few days, my mother was complaining of the heat and humidity that greeted her in their new home. But, what also greeted her was a few geckos crawling around. To hear my regularly squeamish mom talking so calmly about "getting used to them" was a shock. Welcome to my world! I am constantly wiping up gecko poo, and occasionally smacking a cockroach or centipede that has peeked its nasty head into my vicinity. I normally think geckos are pretty cute, when their webbed feet are pressed against the windows. But only when they are OUTSIDE the window. If I find one inside and can't manage to sweep it out the door or window, I imagine them crawling across my face in the middle of the night and get spooked! Like lizards, geckos also have that magical ability to lose their tail and go on with their bug-eating business as usual. I have proof. I accidentally slid our screen door over a gecko's tail this summer, only to have it revisit me almost every evening on the window above my kitchen sink while I washed dishes. Seeing its stubbed tail, which makes its crawl look more like a wobble, I couldn't help but feel bad for the poor thing. The cool weather has sent them into hybernation or whatever they do during the cold...so I wonder if I will see it again next year. What might the life span of geckos be anyway? I hope I can go and visit the Hawaiian geckos, apparently a cuter green species compared to our dusty gray ones here!

OYA BAKA

How do you NOT be a doting parent? I can't help it! Not in the moments when she is talking back to me (using words that she undoubtedly heard her own parents say), but definitely in moments when she is trying so hard. The one good thing my daughter has inherited from me is creativity, and she is allowed to cut, paste, paint, or draw any time she wants in our house. I have a huge case of colored paper and craft materials that I have stocked for making teaching materials, and she regularly digs into this and creates whatever her imagination conjures up. Today I caught her in a lip-clenching moment of concentration while she was painting. A child trying really hard and using her imagination...how can you not adore that!

EN GA ARU

" We have the same socks," said my student. Well, almost the same, and close enough to deserve a photo! In Japanese there is a phrase EN GA ARU, which basically means that WE HAVE A CONNECTION. Finding that connection is so fun! Reminds me of the bestseller book I read ages ago, The Celestine Prophecy. Don't remember the bulk of the story, but do remember fancying the idea that meetings with people, no matter how brief or seemingly insignificant, are not coincidental. This also reminds me of the last day of my first stay in Japan, when a person I had never met hosted me for a formal tea ceremony, and presented me with the caligraphied rice paper that was thoughtfully hung in the tea room for the occasion. On it was written the saying, ICHI GO ICHI E, which reiterates the same message that one meeting connects you forever. So, when my student finds something that we have in common, even our socks, I am happy to have made another connection.

The ground I tread

I am where I've been. The places I've been tell a lot about who I am. I am 37 now. What is the first place you think of, for example, when you were 13? Let me give it a try:


1 - Fairbanks, Alaska... where I was born
2 - A pink house on Pine Street...I remember just from photos
(from age 1-6, I have no memories...my first memory is the day my younger brother was born, when I was 6!)
6 - Anaconda, Montana...my young stomping grounds
7 - The Benny Goodman "Green Grass" Park
8 - Georgetown Lake
9 - Yellowstone Park
10- City League Softball field
11- Mr. Everhard's sixth grade class
12 - Mr. Gallagher's English class
13- My junior high school locker, between J and D
14 - Legendary Lodge
15 - My Grandfather's House
16 -Anaconda High stadium and gym
17 - East Coast ... family trips to Boston and D.C.
18 - Rockford Illinois...where I spent the summer with G&G
19 - Carroll College campus
20 - Copenhagen, Denmark...and Eurorail trains
21 - Dance floors in Helena
22 - Uto City Elementary Schools
23 - Beijing and Quillin China
24 - Classrooms in Anaconda where I substituted
25 - Kumamoto Prefecture's International Affairs Office
26 - Handball court...practicing with our Yoka International Team
27 - My KIA car, driving from Montana to New Mexico and back
28 - Arvin, California and Australia
29 - English Conversation school
30 - Tettori Church...on my wedding day
31 - Private English classrooms
32 - At home with my newborn daughter
33 - University classroom
34 - Ito's Yatai Restaurant
35 - Antique stores and Flea Markets
36 - Chicago at Christmas
37 - My daughter's school events

Where will my shoes lead me next? Cheers to the possiblities!